John Oxley Library Fellowship

The 2025 John Oxley Library Fellowship was awarded to Dr Zhila Gholami for her project, 'Voices of Diversity: Collecting and Preserving the Refugee Experience in Queensland'.

Zhila’s project will assemble a powerful collection of stories, photographs, and oral histories from refugees who have settled in Queensland, capturing their journeys, contributions, and cultural impact. Working with community organisations and support groups, Zhila will gather materials that reflect Queensland’s diverse cultural landscape. This collection will be preserved and made accessible through State Library, fostering a greater public understanding of refugee experiences and highlighting the significant role refugees play in shaping Queensland’s society.

Focusing on communities she closely connects with, especially Kurdish (from Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey), Iranian, and Afghan groups, Zhila’s background as a Kurdish-Iranian woman and her fluency in Kurdish, Farsi, and Dari enable her to build meaningful relationships within these communities. This collection will provide a foundation that other communities can expand upon, enriching the broader narrative of Queensland’s multicultural heritage.

The 2025 John Oxley Library Honorary Fellowship was awarded to Dr Indigo Willing for her project, 'Queensland Skate of Mind: Subcultural Game Changers to Olympian ‘Roll’ Models'.

This timely project explores the rich and diverse world of skateboarding in Queensland, tapping into growing public interest in skateboarding as both a high-performance and Olympic sport, while also shedding light on its deep subcultural roots. Drawing on existing materials from the John Oxley Library collections and new oral histories from pioneering and emerging skateboarders -youth, amateur, and professional - the research will provide fresh insights into skateboarding's evolution. By examining the history and future of skateboarding, this project will reveal often-overlooked aspects of Queensland's history, specifically the contributions of informal groups who creatively transform urban “grey spaces” of concrete infrastructure into inclusive places for play and community-building.